Perfect little girl
by Wormtail96
Summary: She wanted something to love. Something that was not her. With Coraline Jones now gone and out of her reach forever, the Beldam will go to any length to fill the void, even if that means creating a Coraline of her own...


**(A/N) This following one-shot story is the set-up to a full _Coraline _story some time in the future. I hope you all enjoy it. Please read on.**

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**Perfect little girl**

"Mother…?"

The Beldam was hunched over the old worn table inside her private workshop, her equipment scattered about the table. Her appearance once again resembled that of Mel Jones but still tall and grotesque, much to most people's horror.

Standing in the open doorway of the workshop was a young girl with blue hair in a dark blue star sweater. It looked like…Coraline Jones? No, this was not the same Michigan girl whom defeated the Beldam only months ago. Coraline was not missing an arm, a leg, an eye patch or even had…a black button eye.

"What is it, Coraline?" The Beldam asked the badly damaged and dishevelled Coraline look-alike with great annoyance, not turning around to face her. "Can't you see that I'm a little busy here, daughter?"

"Mother…you've been in here for days. When will you come out?"

The Beldam responded sharply, looking over her shoulder at 'Coraline', "When I'm _finished _with what I'm doing! For the love of Jesus, Coraline, there's a little thing called 'privacy', you ever heard of it?!"

"I'm sorry, mother." 'Coraline' lowered her head in shame to look at her one foot. She was keeping her balance by holding onto a crutch.

Letting out a low sigh, the Beldam dropped her equipment and pulled a white tarp over whatever she was working on with her one remaining hand. All that was left on the end of her right wrist was a stump where her hand used to be. The witch stood up straight and turned around to face her 'daughter' as it were.

"Oh, Coraline, I'm sorry for snapping at you." The Beldam apologize, rubbing her temples above her black button eyes with her sharp black nails. "But you don't know how hard this is. I don't have the doll. It's not easy to create from memory."

"But you don't need to make anymore, Mother. You have me and the others." 'Coraline' said meekly, leaning frailly against her crutch.

The towering witch shook her head, putting her hands behind her back. "Oh, you're all wonderful well-behaved girls." She turned her back to 'Coraline' in deep thought. "But you just don't have that…_spark _of divine like _she _had. None of you do."

"I can't help it, Mother. I try to be the most perfect Coraline for you, but _this…__"_ 'Coraline' looked down at her mutilated body with self-loathing. "This doesn't help at all."

"I know. The truth is it's really my fault." Beldam turned back to 'Coraline' sadly and brushed her fingernails through the girl's shining dark blue hair. "I'm not really sure _where _I went wrong with you. You're missing an eye and two of your limbs. But I guess that's what's most likely to happen on the first try from memory."

'Coraline' hugged her mother with her one arm. "Thank you, mother. That really make me feel better."

Beldam kneeled down and hugged her child back maternally. She put her hand under 'Coraline's' chin, saying, "All right, that's good. Now you go play with your sister's, okay?"

"Okay." 'Coraline' turned around and slowly hobbled out of the Beldam's workshop, not taking a look back. She closed the door behind her.

Now left alone in her twisted workshop, the Beldam turned back to the worn table and pulled the white tarp off of her latest project. She grinned widely, picking up her equipment and getting back to work, "Oh, but _you__'__ll _be perfect. You will…"

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The other world had been transformed into what closely resembled Coraline Jones' house, yet a lot of the colour had been drained away. It looked more like a cold gritty abandoned lunatic asylum than a family home.

'Coraline' limbed inside the now grey and almost gothic dining room where she was not alone. Two other Coraline look-alikes were sitting down at the table and opposite ends.

At the end of the table closest to the entrance in which 'Coraline' entered was a look-alike that looked the weight of a baby killer whale! Her enormous stomach stuck out like she was 6-7 months pregnant, stretching the fabric of her dark blue star sweater. Her pudgey arms were thick and round like logs; her hips were massive and her backside jiggled around as if it were stuffed to the brim with fruit jelly. In place of her eyes were two large black buttons. This 'Coraline' was stuffing her face with roast chicken, mash potatoes with gravy, sausages, cake and basically anything a fat spoiled brat would be provided with.

At the opposite end of the table where food was scarce sat a Coraline look-alike that looked just like _the _genuine article, except of course, the black buttons in place of her eyes. Her dark blue star sweater seemed to cling to her body more since she was a lot thinner than her 'sisters'. She was reading from a worn tattered black book that laid open on the table and drinking from a cup of tea. Her express was blank and without emotion…like a lifeless doll.

The badly cripple 'Coraline', better known as Coraline 1 hobbled over to the table and stared at the mountain of food on the table with moist lips. She reached out her hand to take a bread roll, but another hand snatched it away.

The obese 'Coraline', better known as Coraline 2 hissed whiningly at her sister, "No, Coraline. This is my bread roll."

"No, it's not-"

But Coraline 2 held the bread roll far out of Coraline 1's reach. "No, Coraline! It's my bread!" She turned her head around in the direction of the dining room entrance, _"Moooooooother!"_

"_Coraline, stop trying to take Coraline's bread!" _The Beldam's stern voice hollered from her workshop.

The 'Coraline' at the far end of the table with a blank expression, better known as Coraline 3 said plainly, keeping her eyes on her book, "You two must learn to cooperate."

"Shut up, Coraline! No one cares what you think!" Coraline 2 spat before she took a glass of her mango milkshake and chugged it down her gullet.

"That is immature and almost infantile behaviour, Coraline." Coraline 3 took a small plate next to her and began buttering a bread roll for herself. "And I am not sure you realise but you tend to spit when you talk."

"I don't spit!" Coraline 2 picked up a circular pink cake and shoved her face into it.

Coraline 1 sat down at the table, placing her crutch underneath the table. She looked at her two sisters and sighed, "You know, Coraline and Coraline…I'm almost for certain that mother is making a new one."

"A new what, my good sister?" Coraline 3 set her half-eaten buttered bread roll back down on her plate.

"A new Coraline."

The expressionless Coraline 3 put her index finger to her chin and pondered this, "A new Coraline, you say? Are you sure?"

"Definitely. It was pretty big and covered up in a white tarp. Mother also talked about trying to create it from memory without a doll."

Coraline 3 put her hands together and gave this a brief thought before concluding, "Hmmm, then your suspicious may be correct. I cannot say this is unexpected. Mother has become more determined to make the 'perfect' Coraline after three _failed _attempts."

Coraline 2 pulled her face out from the pink sugary cake, her mouth covered with cream and pink frosting and she snapped angrily at her sister, "You're talking a load of crap! Mother would never call us 'failed attempts'!"

"Maybe not straight to our faces, she would not."

"Mother loves us no matter how many other Coralines she makes!" Coraline 2 rebuked in their mother's defence.

Coraline 3 picked up her cup of tea and said before taking another short sip, "I am not saying she won't continue loving us." She put her tea cup and hands back onto the table "I am saying that there is always an element of favouritism in all families. When the day comes she does create the 'perfect' Coraline, out of all of us there may be by then, _she _will be the centre of attention." Coraline 3 then took a pewter pot filled with sugar; stuck a pair of metal tongs into it; pulled out a couple of sugar cubes and dropped them into her tea.

Coraline 2 and Coraline 1 paused for a brief moment before the former spoke out mockingly in a mimicking voice, _""__There__'__s an element of favouritism in all families. I__'__m Coraline; I__'__m an emotionless dummy who speaks like a 100-year-old wizard!__""_

Both Coraline 2 and 1 began laughing loudly at that. Coraline 3 simply shook her head, stood up, closed her book and walked out the dining room with it and her cup of tea in hand. They were both ignorant. Blissfully ignorant.

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Meanwhile, secluded in her workshop far off in the house, the Beldam was well underway with her project. In fact, she was near enough done. All she could do was pray that this time she had gotten it right.

Like she told her daughter, trying to create a look-alike for the other world from memory. Coraline 1 was missing limbs but since she thought it was a first-time mistake as expected, the Beldam tried again. Coraline 2 appeared a success at first, but the girl's insatiable appetite and the results on her frame that followed put a frown of disappointment on the Beldam's face. Then along came Coraline 3, whom had no physical deficits, making the witch think she had reached success. But when the girl's near total lack of emotions and feeling began to show, the Beldam nearly came to the point of pulling out her own black hair. Granted, without emotions to fog her thoughts, Coraline 3 was a very clear and philosophical thinker. But then again, having no emotions or real personality took away what Coraline Jones herself. It simply did not work. Yet despite three unsuccessful attempts the Beldam kept to her proudest trait; her persistence.

The Beldam could not get over her obsession with girl that had escaped her clutches and set the other children's souls free. How did she do it? How could one little girl outwit an all-powerful being like her? It just did not make sense at all. Coraline could have been provided one of the most luxurious childhoods possible and all the Beldam required in return was to sew buttons into the girl's eyes. She was the perfect daughter the Beldam had craved; full of 'vim' and 'spunk' and all those wonderful old-fashioned words.

But now Coraline was gone. Through the door back to the real world and taking the Beldam's right hand along with her. So what was the witch to do, especially with the door now locked? Try and rebuild whatever of her life she could.

And maybe that time was now. The witch was now sewing in the button eyes with exact precision.

"Yes…" The Beldam's grin began to grow. This time her creation was going to be perfect; all with the exception of this one's hair being a shining black instead of blue. That did not matter to her though. She preferred black to blue anyway so it might be called an 'improvement'.

"Finished."

The new creation on the old worn work table began to stir. "Uhhh…" It was another familiar looking girl with black buttons eyes. Another Coraline. "Wha-?"

Her arms and legs wriggled around against the table like the worms. She began to find her voice, "Where…where am I? M-m-mother?"

"That's right, my dear liebling." The Beldam smiled maternally as she began shrinking in size and altering in shape. She started looking more beautiful and peachy with every passing moment. "It's mommy."

This new 'Coraline' pushed herself up right in a sitting position. She looked down and felt her dark blue star sweater before looking up at the Beldam, whom now looked gorgeous and curvy to boot. Her skin was no longer pale, her lips ruby red and her black hair shining and smooth.

"M-mother…" 'Coraline' got onto her knees and looked her mother in her black button eyes. "It really is you."

The Beldam reached out her arms and wrapped them around the black-haired 'Coraline's' back. She spoke with a more sweeter and heavenly voice, "It's alright, sweetheart. Now what should I call you…hmmm…" She patted her on the head, feeling her long fingers through her daughter's hair. "I think I'll call you…Caroline."

"Mommy…" This new look-alike now known as Caroline smiled, hugging her mother back.

"That's right." The witch pulled her new daughter up to her level with her arms and rested the girl's face onto her own shoulder. "My Caroline. My beautiful little Caroline…"

She wanted _something_ to _love_. _Something_ that was not her. And it seemed that the Beldam had finally found it.

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**(A/N) Please Read and Review! Your thoughts and criticism are always appreciated. **


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